These are the blogs that we go to religiously. The tabletop gaming blogs that we just can’t do without! We will share our top picks a few times a year, we could do more but we really want to focus on the blogs that inspire us and help enrich our tabletop experiences. We will add these to the newly created collection on our “SITES WE ♥!” page in the top nav.
Bill’s Picks:
Mr Saturday’s Mumblings
Mr Saturday’s Mumblings is a blog I started following because the person writing for the site has been creating some beautiful custom fantasy armies. Specifically, he built an entire Fimir army, which is something that’s essentially unheard of. The Fimir are not an army with bunches of miniatures you can buy from anyone. They were one of the monster types in Heroquest from Milton Bradley and sparsely in the early versions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I bring this up because there were basically 4-6 models made officially and Mr Saturday built an entire army with dozens upon dozens of models. More recently there have been some Forgeworld models created, but still, the army he built was a feat to behold and an enjoyable thing to watch progress.
Shed Wars
Eric the Shed is the author of the blog, which is a pretty great nickname. The guy hails from the UK and writes about these grand scenarios that he plays out on the tabletop. Historical stuff, pulp miniature games, and all kinds of miniature gaming stuff. In general it’s not stuff that I play or rulesets I’m familiar with, but that is not an issue for me. The amount of effort he puts into the spectacle of wargaming is what draws me into his posts. Everything tends to be painted, terrain made, the scene is set and he builds his games to be a event worth watching. I enjoy this blog the most for the sights but the articles are pretty good too.
Jason’s Picks:
Mina’s Fresh Cardboard
Mina’s BoardGameGeek blog is excellent for getting opinions on many new and older games. Each week she does a game review along with thoughts on the games that she has played, and she plays a lot of games. Mina and her husband play together almost every night it seems and they play anything from lighter games to very heavy. Her blog is a great way to discover new games and see some great photos to accompany them.
Dungeon Contest
Not a blog. I’m cheating. I’m sorry. But this sticks with the spirit of this post as something that is a great resource in gaming. Each year the folks at Dungeon Contest host the One Page Dungeon Contest. It is basically exactly what it sounds like. Anybody with the creativity and motivation to create a system agnostic RPG dungeon on a single page can submit their entry. The entries are then voted on by a panel of people and winners are selected. What makes this excellent is that all of the entries are made available to the public afterwards. Entries range from pages that have been covered in beautiful artwork to pages that are mostly text with a few basic illustrations. A fairly recent addition is a pdf or a print on demand book that can be purchased that includes everything all in one place. The One Page Dungeon Contest is something that I look forward to browsing through every year. It serves as a great source of inspiration for anyone running a game and you might even find something you can use in a game of your own.
Richy’s Pick:
Dyson’s Dodecahedron
I’m assuming if you are a DM you have probably already visited Dyson’s Dodechahedron or at least as a player have seen or explored a map that is somewhat in the vein of. His blog isn’t just focused on maps, there is a rich collection of stories and scenarios that also have accompanying maps. His style of drawing is unique and works exceptionally well. He has a legend sheet at the top of his that clearly defines what his markings mean. Most of them are very intuitive and draw from existing approaches, but are very much unique to his style. I’ve heavily integrated his methods into my own for my own map making I have done for D&D campaigns (which spoilers, I will share some more of those as well as the scenarios that inspired them in the near future). His blog has been the most influential for me as a DM to date.